AboutAlex J. Caffarini Expertise I can answer questions on any of the following:
* Determining the best marketing research method for your needs;
* Conducting surveys (including questionnaire design);
* Measuring the effectiveness of marketing promotions;
* Determining market size or market share;
* Data analysis;
* Statistical modeling;
* Sales or business forecasting; and
* Market segmentation.
Experience I have 15 years of marketing research experience across several different industries, including banking, insurance, retail, and non-profit.
Organizations American Marketing Association
Education/Credentials M.B.A. in Marketing and Quantitative Methods, and B.B.A. in Economics, both from Loyola University Chicago.
I have searched the Net, InfoUSA, reference librarian... no success yet.
What Internet resources (databases or directories) are available which list companies and how many high-volume multiple locations they have???
EXAMPLES:
Insurance
Restaurants
Automotive parts
Automotive repair
Car rentals
Real estate
Mortgage
Pharmacies
Fast Food
Transportation
Chain stores
Thank you in advance for a prompt and detailed response!
Alan
ANSWER: Alan,
I've yet to find one source that can get you exactly what your looking for in the form you're interested in. You might try Dun & Bradstreet's Million Dollar Database and Hoovers. You can try looking for companies at a headquarters, branch, or single location level. The problem is, is that the information is not summarized. They will not tell you the total number of establishments a firm has or what their volume is.
Another source you might consider is the U.S. Bureau of the Census. Every 5 years, they conduct an Economic Census of each industry, measuring the size of firms and establishments by revenue and employee count, and they group the establishments by industry, and by employee size, and by receipts. So, you can see statistics for the number of Restaurant establishments that have less than $100,000 in sales, from $100,000 to $249,999, etc. And you would want to look at establishments, not firms, since one firm can have multiple establishments.
The last Economic Census was done in 2007, but the results may not yet be available. However, estimates for 2003-2006, based on the 2002 Census are published.
Some drawbacks about the Economic Census: they do not break the establishment volume down to specific firms; if an industry has only a few firms, certain statistics may not be given; and the inter-Census years'(2003-2006) estimates do not break down by receipts.
Alan, I hope this helps.
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Hello Alex:
Thank you for your prompt response.
I have had access to all the above tools you have cited.
I am looking to identify businesses that have 500+ locations in more industries than I have listed above with an relatively close count.
I have tested one advance search engine search using:
site:xxx.com keyword
which if nothing else... I can data-mine that... and laboriously discover what I'm looking for.
If you can think of any other avenue... I'd sure appreciate it.
Thank you again,
Alan
Answer Alan,
Sorry about the delay to your follow-up.
Some other sources you might consider include: "Market Share Reporter" by Gale Research; Plunkett's Industry Almanacs (different versions for different industries), "Progressive Grocer's Marketing Guidebook" (for info on supermarket and grocery chains), and Chain Store Guides (a series of directories of retail chains of all kinds - automotive, grocery, clothing, drug store, restaurants, etc.
Many of these sources have company-specific and contact information that you might use in trying to find the information you need.
